Canine Infatuation
by nogreateragony78
Summary: The one where Kanan Jarrus finds himself in a custodial dispute with the Lotholian Wolf Pack for one Padawan: Ezra Bridger. Who for the record? Just wants to be allowed to finish his nap please.


Blame all the new trailer gifs and stills, I certainly do...

Our story starts at the end of a fictitious season 4 finale, when Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus tracks down his padawan sometime after the final battle of Lothol and finds the battle weary teenager literally asleep in a puppy pile of loth-wolves…

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Kanan has to wonder from where he's standing how Ezra is even still asleep in that ridiculous pile of fur and occasionally shifting canine bodies. Normally his Padawan is such a light sleeper in unfamiliar places that he wakes up at the sound of a spider's or dokma's sneeze.

Yet Ezra hasn't moved an inch, nor stirred at the sound of his voice. Kanan's brow crinkles in worry. "How…how long has he been like that?" He finally asks his accompanying hostess half curiously.

Mother!Alpha tilts her head at him quizzically. "The Cub you mean?"

Kanan nods, "His given name is Ezra. Though you already know that given our conversation earlier apparently."

"Yes. He is still 'The Cub' - to us at least - though. Or perhaps CubEzra. And to answer your query: CubEzra has been in slumber ever since consuming what we caught and earlier in the day when he admitted that he needed sustenance. "

"You caught him his supper?" Kanan can't stop his eyebrows from raising. Then he frowned. "Did something happen to his rations?" Had they somehow been left behind?

The Loth-wolf actually snorts at that. "No., but we loth-wolves are not like you humans, AlphaKnight. When they are hungry our guests are given *actual food* to eat. Not prepared packets of grain and vegetables. A kill's worth is greater when the blood of the prey is rich and was recently pumping."

Kanan moves closer, still concerned at the depth of Ezra's apparent unconsciousness. He's trying to get an assessing hand onto one of Ezra's wrists to check his pulse rate but the teen is literally covered with one of other pack members tails like some kind of massive blanket, and he doesn't dare touch it without permission. "As I said before, feel free to just call me Kanan, please. Are you sure he's not hurt? Normally by this point, I'd expect that the sudden appearance of my voice after so much time apart would have been enough to pull him out of sleep to greet me. I'm a little alarmed he isn't rising."

"CubEzra was injured when we found him, yes but you need not worry about that matter further. The wounds were only moderate, and they have already been treated sufficiently. He sleeps as he does now because he was greatly drained by his most recent efforts… he has spent much of his soul!spark, in the past few rounds of battle. Because of this, he should really rest with us awhile longer. At least until he wakes on his own and is ready to eat again.

"I thank you for your care of him. It was appreciated." Kanan repeats again. "You honor us both with your hospitality when we have little means to repay it."

The alpha's ears flick back and forth, regarding Ezra consideringly. "The Cub's company is reward enough, Jarrus. He is a good beta - perhaps a little hard-headed on occasion, and a great deal too skinny for my liking."

"Ezra isn't really skinny, he's just a little lean." Kanan replies, a little uneasy with the turn in the conversation for reasons he can't quite put into words. Had they just referred to Ezra as a beta? He guessed that made a certain amount of sense given the name they've taken to calling him.

"To say CubEzra is lean is like to claim that water is 'damp.' He lacks adequate rest AlphaKnight, as well as significant protein. Your packs of rehydrated grain and vegetable he carries with him into battle are insufficient to his growing bodies needs."

"Yeah, human bodies can seem spare that way sometimes, especially during puberty…Ezra's very, very active. And on top of that all he's still growing - but on inches and pounds day day and week by week."

"Yes." The alpha replies, with another tilt of her head. "We have become increasingly aware over our acquaintance of his partial achievement of maturity."

Kanan is starting to distinctly dislike this entire conversation. It is time for them to say goodbye. "Well, again I thank you for your kindness, Mother!Wolf but I =should wake him up then we should really be on our way. It's already going to be a long trip back to the city as it isand the rest of my pack, including the boy's own alpha!mother is anxious to see him. "

"CubEzra's mother is dead and has been thus for years now." The Loth wolf speaks the phrase bluntly. Her words stop Kanan dead in his tracks.

"You're saying you actually knew the Bridgers before their capture?"

"We did. Mira Bridger was close friend of my kin, AlphaKnight. Her son is in part the work of our hands…

Kanan blinks at that. Open his mouth, closes it. Opens it one more time. "Excuse me? He's what?"

"CubEzra is soul!kin to us Kanan Jarrus. Member of my pack by the oldest of the blood oaths. In your language, you could call us his godparents. Mira and Ephrain were once owed a boon from my kind. A life debt they held thanks to both their courage and their bravery. So we healed what was wrong in Ezra's father's flesh that had left them childless for the better half of a decade and gave back equal for equal: the life of their son for the life of my now grown and elsewhere mated girl!cub."

Kanan blinks again, reaches up a hand to rub at the back of his neck "So you're saying that…?"

I am saying that CubEzra is blood of our pack - named thus both after his birth and before his conception. His parents are gone as you say, but he is kin to us as well and several of us have become concerned by both his health and his still orphaned status."

"Yes." A certain amount of bite slips into Kanan's tone than he just can't hold back. He hopes to Force that his teeth aren't blatantly showing, ut he's growing increasingly unhappy about the direction of this entire conversation, and where he's pretty sure now it's going. "You are right that Ezra's now technically an orphan Mother!Wolf, as my *own* pack and I noted almost *four years ago* when we first found him *alone*and *half starved to death* on the streets of Lothal 's Capital City. We willingly took him into our number. The mother I spoke of - Hera is adoptive. She loves him no less than Mira did."

"That remains yet to be seen by our number, Kanan Jarrus."

Alright, Kanan is done with this. He is done being polite. He doesn't even attempt this time to cover his teeth before speaking again. "If your own pack was, as you're so quick to assert, concerned for Ezra's welfare that might I suggest that perhaps you all might have been wiser to intercede eight years ago when his parents were first taken from him. You know, back when he was only seven years old and your protection and provision would have actually benefited his needs, instead of now, when he's already found a new pack that happily looks to his needs and interests."

"My pack and I patrolled the outer borders of the continent at the time of the Bridgers' capture, Kanan Jarrus, as is dictated by the Wolf Accords. We were not here to note their loss initially and it would not have been safe to bring the boy back out to the wilds with us then even if we had been present. CubEzra was better off with his own kind in the city where he could observe your ways and grow fluent in your language when he was younger. Now he is older though, and strong both in power and knowledge."

"And?" Kanan grits out through his teeth. Though frankly he already knows, or at least suspects the general direction this conversation is going even if the concept of saying it aloud sounds ridiculous.

"And now it only seems fair that after the completion of our turn walking the Wild that Cub!Ezra's current situation should be reexamined and discussed. The reasons he could not walk with us before are, after all, no longer relevant. Not to mention that anyone who looks can see that he is clearly still wounded from the war you all seem to be returning to in full rush at present."

"We all are wounded Mother!Alpha, and we're doing all we can to help him heal, but this is a war he's made his own - his service has never been conscripted."

"He is still a Cub, AlphaKnight. Not all such choices should by right be entirely his. And you truly presume you can heal him better in such matters than his own true-kin can?"

"Forgive me MotherWolf but I believe that the two of us currently have fundamental differences on how to properly interpret the meaning of true-kin."

"Spirit is deeper than flesh, AlphaKnight."

"And yet in my experience, Mother!Alpha the water of the womb does not run as thick as the blood of the covenant." The female alpha bends her head to him again. Deeper this time, and gives a sub vocal growl of approval. Kanan blinks. What the Sith had that meant? He's pretty Forced Damned sure whatever it was had been significant.

"The matter is not settled, AlphaKnight, but by the wisdom of your words, I formally acknowledge your claim to Cub!Ezra as at this point equally binding."

"Which means?"

"It means that our packs must meet and hold congress regarding CubEzra and his present as well as future situation."

Kanan rolls his face heavenwards in silent entreaty. "And you want to do this right now I assume?"

"Is there any time better? Unless of course, your pack wish to take a night or two of rest first while CubEzra stays here in our care continuing to recover until that time."

Kanan sighs, yeah that'll go over with the rest of the Specter's like a Force damned lead balloon. "May I go outside to speak with my packmates without ceding my ground on the matter MotherAlpha? It… may be a little hard to get a signal out from inside this high of a mountain chain without doing so."

"By the accords you may traverse as far as one of us could run in a quarter of a day in full sprint."

Which meant a decent distance yes, but not necessarily all the way back to the city. Oh yeah, Kanan can feel it, Hera is going to kriffing *love*this. He looks down at Ezra - who is still asleep, and asks again, uneasily. "You're absolutely certain that he isn't injured in any way that would require his medical facility admission?"

"His flesh is fine, AlphaKnight. I assure you. It was his soul!spark which he very nearly drained, and we stoked before it could smolder."

What the hell does that even mean? Kanan wonders. Ezra had seemed fine when they'd spoken over their communicators. "What exactly are you implying when you say that? What did you mean when you said his SoulSpark was injured when you found him?"

"i meant only that it may be several more days before CubEzra can touch your Force without significant discomfort for his trouble, and up to a week or more before he should attempt to use it again in any large amount unless he has no fear of pain. We stoked the fire that was fading at his core when we found him earlier, and it will continue to naturally replenish on its own given rest and time, but only if he rests, feeds himself well and keeps clear of quenching rain."

Kanan's eyes narrow. That was... very specific. "And is this little nap he's taking right now, MotherAlpha was it *voluntary*, to begin with on his part?"

"As I already said Alpha!Knight - he was quite worn out when we found him but he ate what food he was offered and drifted off as tired cubs do without requiring our intial intervention."

"*Initial*?"

"…Sometimes a cub needs a small encouragement to sleep during the deepest hours of the night."

"So then you're saying that you *sedated* him?" Kanan growls in frustration.

"Of course not. Mild use of my AlphaTone in the face of his sheer exhaustion was more than sufficient to send him into long journey through the land of his dreams."

"And how long exactly after your use 'Alpha!Voice' *will* he sleep?"

"Until he has rested himself enough to wake naturally. No more than one of your day cycles. Now did you not say you were going to go and howl for your mate?"

Oh, he'll make a call alright but he's very very sure at this point he won't be the only person at the end of it in the mood for howling or bearing his teeth. Hera is NOT going to be happy, *at all* about *any* of this to put it kindly. He himself could still barely believe the situations sheer absurdity.

His padawan had essentially just been shoplifted right out from under them, by a pack of loth-wolves no less. Who claim to be the closest thing Ezra has to blood relatives, because after all why wouldn't they be? Even if admittedly the story MotherAlpha had just told, if it's true may explain any number of things. Crazily of course, but vaguely reasonably.

"I'll be back just as soon as I can."

"You needn't worry AlphaKnight, the boy is safe in our hands. No harm will befall him while he rests if he and the others of my pack keep the watch. He is, as I said, like kin to us here."

Of course he was, which was why they'd padawan-knaped him essentially. Even though that type of thing has ended well for everyone involved basically never, though such attempts seemed to happen, in Kanan's experience at least one time every year.

And why was that again anyway? Because Kanan would really like to know what it was about Ezra Bridger in particulair that brings out the good and bad coveters world like some kind of kriffing homing beacon.

Could it be tied to what Mother Alpha had said? Something about the Force Power that had apparently helped in his conceptions - and Force but how is Kanan even supposed to make sense of that claim, because it sounds as if it ought to be sheer nonsense, even though Kanan already knew, somehow instinctively that it isn't.

Is Ezra'a undeniable tendency to a pack mentality in times of great pressure - and tendency to bring out the envious onlookers, basically a function of his (Force manipulated) Loth wolf heritage? Did he bring out the crazies in the same way most people react to puppies set out in shopping center windows?

It's a novel theory - if admittedly one that makes Kanan wince. If admittedly not as much as he winces at the idea trying to detail this back to a woman back at The Ghost whose brain's essentially going to implode with the application of one simple sentence...

"My Padawan has been abducted by Loth-wolves, Hera." He informs the view screen as Hera pops up on his comm. "Though it's probably better to state it as 'We've been requested to show up for supper and discuss future custody arrangements, as AlphaMother knew Mira and Ephraim before Ezra was born and is currently claiming that the pack makes up his literal Godparents."

Hera raises eyebrow, opens her mouth, starts to speak and stops twice. "Kanan we're all exhausted right now, if this is just a..."

"It isn't a prank Hera. They're insisting he stay with them at their cave for at least another days time while they finished healing his injuries, and they have formally requested a cosy little pack to pack chat as soon as it can be managed."

"...Ezra has been abducted by Loth-wolves."

"Yes Hera, I just said that."

"Who don't want to hurt or eat him, or anything of that nature they apparently just also don't want to give him back?"

"They say he's underfed, under-rested, under-guarded..." Well okay technically the last is a stretch but Kanan doesn't doubt for a second if they can find a way too, they'll also be accusing them of that.

"Kanan that described all of us some days. We're in a war at the moment."

"Yes. Which may well be why they don't want to give him back, Hera. I get the feeling they see his involvement in the Rebellion at this point as something very near involuntary conscription. They insist that he's draining himself so much and so often in battle right now that if he's not careful the effects of his fights are going to end up killing him."

"And could they be right?"

"I wouldn't normally think so, but Hera, I have no idea at all how the Loth-wolf involvement in his conception has affected his lineage. Ezra's always been strong, but he's also clearly been different. I'm not sure we can pass on this talk just for the potential gain of information. Not to mention since the Loth Wolves in question could probably easily eat just about any of us for breakfast just due to sheer size I'm not loving our chances of us successfully recovering him from five of them via any other means except talking."

"So you're saying that we need to fly out there and congress with a bunch of territorial canines as soon as we can?"

"Yes. And bring a steak or two along if you can, as a hostess present. Or maybe come to think of it, you should just bring a whole cow."

"Oh we're on our way just as soon as I can get the engines up and running I promise. Just don't think I won't be packing a large rolled up newspaper when I get there too, cause Little God's Kanan, this is *ridiculous.* Hera out."

Kanan winces sharply. Mother wolves vs Mother Twileks. Sith Hells. The next twelve or so hours are going to be a distinctly interesting experience. Because he and MotherAlpha are not, exactly as he'd first expected, the only ones having some territory issues at present.


End file.
